How do you know love? I doubt if any of us would answer that question exactly the same way. For an infant, love is found in the nurturing feeding after a hungry cry; or the adoring gaze of a parent before he cradles you close. For a young child love is the kiss you received when you scraped your knee, or the pride you see as your mother cheers when you start peddling away for the first time. Love for a teenager looks even different. Often more focused on being appreciated by peers or as the waiting ends when the phone finally rings. Then there is the wonder of a first love, all consuming and hopeful. Within primary relationships, love is expressed as intimate union, support and partnership. The world is better when you build a life together. Maybe with additional years love comes from friends and spiritual support with ever present memories of a shared love sustained by God. Love manifests differently as we journey through life, but God’s love for us is constant.
“Jack started keeping a journal when he was a child, and he kept up the practice his entire life. When Jack met Phyllis on October 4, 1941, the pages of his diary captured their romance. Jack liked Phyllis from the moment he met her, describing in his diary, “Very nice evening. Danced with [a] very nice girl. Hope I meet her again.” A mere 16 months after that first encounter, the two were married. They lived in Kent, England for over half a century. Eventually Phyllis’ dementia took a deep hold on her life and it was too much for Jack to handle on his own. She had to move into a nursing home.
That didn’t deter Jack. He visits her every day. And every day, he reads to her from his diaries. He reminds her of their family and pets with photographs. Through everything, Phyllis hasn’t forgotten how much she loves Jack. She’s always overjoyed when he arrives to see her. The two have now been married for 70 years” (http://listverse.com/2014/02/22/stories-of-love-that-endured-the-test-of-time/). Devoted human love.
These are ways we know human love which takes many shapes and intensities. Our human love also helps us to get a glimpse of God’s abundant and divine love. We know God’s love when we know personal love, “love with skin on it” and then magnify that to holy proportions. God’s love is bigger, better, and beyond our knowing, but we are given a peak into God’s divine love. Our two passages from Luke speak of God’s love breaking into Mary’s life and the world. Through the annunciation, Gabriel announces Mary’s favored status and God’s divine plan to give life to his love with the birth of His Son. Never before or since has God’s love been made manifest in such a clear and personal way. This is the Incarnation of God’s love, the Word made flesh, and dwelling among us. This means God’s love having flesh, feeling and coming to life through relationships.
In order for that to happen, Mary had to say yes. She had to put aside her fear, being perplexed, and her questions about what saying yes to this would mean in her life. She was young and betrothed which is more than engaged. It is a status that if Joseph was to die before they wed, Mary would be considered his widow. She is poor and about to say yes to God in a way that would cause sandal. She surrendered to the holy, the mystery, and she is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Kathleen Norris wrote, “For me, the incarnation is the place, if you will, where hope contends with fear…. When a place or time seems touched by God, it is an overshadowing, a sudden eclipsing of my priorities and plans. But even in terrible circumstances and calamities, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically. I know holiness is near” (Amazing Grace, A Vocabulary of Faith, pg. 31).
Mary participated in the incarnation, and you and I benefit from this amazing outpouring of God’s love. Our dark moments can be filled with light when we allow God to overshadow a hard situation. When we surrender to the holy and allow God’s divine presence to enter. Of course Mary’s encounter with Gabriel and God’s love was specific and historic, but it gave birth to a love that is universal and transcendent. God so loves everyone and everything, and offers his compassionate love to all. Unfortunately some close the door on God’s love and miss out on the sweetness they have; the blessing of God’s love.
Mary proclaims that love when she visited her relative Elizabeth whom she just discovered was with child too. Her child would become John the Baptist, but at this moment, her pregnancy bears witness to the fact that nothing is impossible with God. It is this mystery, this power, this hope that motivates Mary’s song, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” What starts out as a mother’s prayer and celebration of God quickly expands to Gods’ love to the poor, to the hungry, with good things, and mercy for all who fear him. God’s love reaching out to the dark places then light shining forth God’s holiness.
Mary abided in God’s holiness and became the mother of Jesus. When she asked, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” she is told “her child will be holy and be called the Son of God.” She gave birth to God’s Son, God’s love. Our choir asked an interesting question, “Mary did you know” he would walk on water and calm the storm? As any mother cares for her son she has hopes and dreams but she cannot see where his life will lead. That is part of the mystery. What we do know with confidence is that Mary loved her son, God’s Son, in such a way for him to love the entire world. To be a selfless man, a faithful man and God himself; love made real in human form, willing to die so that we can be forgiven and free.
So I ask you, do you know God’s wondrous love? Are you waiting for God’s love to overshadow you this Christmas? Are you bringing your pains and situations all wrapped up for God to heal, to overshadow and transform? Do you pray for God’s mercy in your life trusting that once a concern is touched by God, it will never be the same? We might be scared like Mary to stand before God, but if there is one thing that is sure, God’s love is relational. If we do not meet God where we are, in confusion and doubt, in financial hardship, in emotional pain in a manger in a stable, how can we experience the miraculous love of Christ coming, the love of God made real for you to feel, touch, experience and know? Welcome God’s love into your situation right now. God’s love is here for you. On this point, Kathleen Norris wonders and asks herself, “When the mystery of God’s love breaks through into my consciousness, do I run from it?… Or am I virgin enough to respond from my deepest self, and say something new, a ‘yes’ that will change me forever?” (Amazing Grace, pg. 77).
As we prepare for this Christmas, say yes to the perfect gift of love made real in the infant Jesus. Say yes to the love in your life. Say yes to the Love of God overshadowing you. Amen.
